Conventionally, there has been proposed a chip resistor, as shown in FIG. 16, to improve load characteristics such as anti-pulse characteristics by increasing the area and the length of a resistive element. The chip resistor shown in FIG. 16 includes a pair of upper surface electrodes 2 formed at positions on opposing sides of a rectangular substrate 1 made of e.g. alumina as opposed to each other with respect to a center line of the rectangular substrate 1 in a direction connecting the opposing sides, and a meander-shaped resistive element 3 to be electrically connected to the upper surface electrode pair 2.
In the aforementioned conventional chip resistor, the width of the upper surface electrode pair 2 is made substantially equal to or smaller than the half of the length of the opposing sides. With this arrangement, the resistive element 3 can be formed on an area where the upper surface electrodes 2 are not formed. As a result, the area and the length of the resistive element 3 can be increased to thereby improve load characteristics such as anti-pulse characteristics.
There are known Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-205004 (D1) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-203702 (D2), as the prior art document information relating to the invention of the application.
In the aforementioned chip resistor, as shown in FIG. 17, upper surface electrodes 2 and resistive elements 3 are formed by printing, sputtering, or a like process, with use of a sheet-like substrate 1a on which a number of rectangular substrates 1 are to be formed in a checkered pattern via first dividing grooves 4a and second dividing grooves 4b. In such a general chip resistor manufacturing method, as shown in FIG. 17, if the upper surface electrodes 2 and the resistive elements 3 are formed with displacement by printing, sputtering, or a like process, the upper surface electrodes 2 may be formed away from the first dividing grooves 4a, i.e. away from the opposing sides of the respective rectangular substrates 1. If a number of substrate strips 1b are obtained by dividing the sheet-like substrate 1a in the displaced condition along the first dividing grooves 4a, and, as shown in FIG. 18, end surface electrodes 5 are formed on opposing end surfaces of each of the displaced rectangular substrates 1, electrical connection of the upper surface electrode 2 to the counterpart end surface electrode 5 may be impossible.